Yankees baseball with a dash of sarcasm and a lot of heart.

Results tagged ‘ Cleveland Indians ’

After winning a great series against the heavily-favored Detroit Tigers, including two games against Cy Young winners, we follow that up by losing a series to the damn Cleveland Indians. I’ll be damned if I get it, but maybe I’m not supposed to. Unfortunately, the two losses we incurred in this series dropped us back down to 3rd place in the AL East, after Toronto won in 19 innings (another one?!) against the Tigers. My not-so-official opinion on that is, if it takes more than say…..1 1/2 games, or 13-14 innings, call it and finish it before the next scheduled game. That’s one of the only things I don’t like about baseball; it can become interminable. If the score is 2-2, you’re going to keep playing until someone scores, whether that’s three innings or three days later. If it’s an afternoon game that stretches that long, okay fine, but if it’s a 7:05 or 8:05 start…..you gotta call that shit.

Our pitching wasn’t bad, necessarily, as we’ve won games after giving up a lot more than just 4 runs, but when your offense craps the bed, you’re not going to win no matter what. Kuroda didn’t have the best start he’s ever had, lasting only 4.2 innings, giving up 3 ER on 5 H, with 4 BB and 3 SO, but the bullpen did a great job, essentially holding the Indians in place to try and give us a chance to scrabble together some runs.

Speaking of runs, we didn’t even score one until the 9th inning, but by then it was too little, too late. Jacoby Ellsbury went 2-4 with an RBI, our only run of the game.

We’re playing Baltimore next, and I don’t have high hopes for this series, so I’ll just cross my fingers and hope we don’t spectacularly embarrass ourselves.

Well, I was hoping in the wake of Paul O’Neill Day, the Yankees would muscle up some runs and beat the Indians, but they clearly had different plans. BTW, the LAAAAAA beat the Red Sox in 19 innings. NINETEEN INNINGS. I think if I’d been at the game, no matter who I was rooting for, I’d have begged someone to hit a HR just so I could go home. Kudos to the fans that stuck around, because that’s two straight games worth of baseball, played all at the same time.

Corey Kluber had a damn good game. Actually, if I’m being honest, he had a damn great game. Over six innings, he gave up 0 ER on 4 H and struck out 10. Brandon McCarthy had a damn great game too, but unfortunately, the Indians gave Kluber some offense to work with, but the Yankees didn’t do the same for McCarthy. Brandon’s final line was 7.1 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. I’ll take that kind of a line from our rotation any day, provided it’s not in a loss, of course.

Jacoby Ellsbury gets the Offense Award for the game, considering he went 2-3, and was one of only four players to get a hit. Derek Jeter passed Honus Wagner to secure #6 on the all-time hits list. Aside from that, really nothing else happened. I’m hoping this afternoon’s game is a complete reversal of yesterday’s.

The Yankees are good at that, aren’t they? They’ll be floundering for 85% of the game and then all of a sudden, it’s like they remember they’re the defending champs (!!!) and start playing like it. We knocked the starter out after 2 innings, but not because we bludgeoned him like we did Fausto Carbomb yesterday — he got injured, which sucks. I hope he’s alright. No, we creamed three relievers in a row. Two in the same inning! Like I said…..we do it well. When we want to.

Rather than suffer through another Surgery Meat Tray start (thankfully not an option due to his pitching two relief innings last night), we got to see the starting debut of Dustin Moseley. He did better than anyone anticipated/expected AND he did far better than Meat Tray would have done, no doubt. 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. That’s a quality start and he probably earned himself another one against the Jays next week. Robertson came in to pitch the 7th and did great, striking out two. Chan-Ho Park came in to pitch the 8th and 9th and after a great 8th…..pooped in the 9th. We had a nice 11-1 lead and he had to go give up three runs. Only two were earned since someone got the yips, but still. 11-4 doesn’t look as nice as 11-1. Thanks. Thankfully however our offense gave him a cushion even I think he couldn’t completely blow so the win wasn’t in danger. It was just annoying.

Just like yesterday’s game, the offense broke out in a big way, tattooing opposition pitching like the @$$ of a fat kid playing paintball. Of course until the 7th inning, you wouldn’t know that. We were winning 2-1, so it’s not like we were in fear of losing the game, just that our offense up to that point did jack and squat and did it very well. Then the floodgates opened up. 7 runs in the 7th and 2 in the 8th gave us 11 overall for the game. Derek went 1-3 with 2 RBI, Grandy went 2-4 with 2 RBI, Alex went 1-4 with 3 RBI (still no #600) and Colin Curtis went 2-4. Everyone in the starting lineup got at least one hit except Mark, so it was spread around quite evenly. I hope we see more of the same tomorrow against Tampa.

Nothing like a good old fashioned butt-whoopin’ to make you forget all about the previous game’s suckitude. We outsted Fausto Carbomb by the 3rd inning, although to be honest……we didn’t do much after that. That’s not to say this wasn’t a good game, but it was typical in a few ways. More on that later, though.

AJ had a spendid start this evening, and hopefully it means he put his wall-punching escapade behind him. His final line for the evening was 6.1 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 7 K. Not bad at all. I would have liked him to finish the 7th, but he had a pretty high pitch count, so it was probably wise in the long run to take him out. Joba came in to finish the inning and did so with zero drama, which is becoming increasingly more rare for him. Then the 8th and 9th were pitched by……Sergio Mitre? And he was good? The hell? He through two innings, giving up only one hit, one walk and three strikeouts. Where the hell was this when he started a game? I think (I hope?) Girardi has realized that he’s most effective as a reliever, not a starter. If you need him to throw a couple innings, he’s fine. If you need him to pitch the whole game, he falls apart like wet toilet paper. It’s aggravating.

Something else that was slightly aggravating was the offense. I know what you’re saying — “Yankees Chick, we scored 8 runs on 13 hits! How can that be aggravating?” Well, look at when we scored them. One in the 1st, three in the 2nd, three in the 3rd, one in the 4th and then……..squato. The Yankees have this almost frustratingly annoying bad habit of having big innings early in the game and then doing nothing for the rest of it. I’m not saying we should be scoring 30 runs a night or anything, but when I checked the game the first time it was 7-0 in the 3rd and the bases were loaded. I come back to check the final score and it’s…..8-0. Wow, one more run. They lit up Carbomb like a Christmas tree, but over the next 6.1 innings, only mustered 3 hits and 1 run off the Indians bullpen. That’s after they tattooed the starter for 7 runs and 10 hits. Now, who had the best nights out of everyone? Robbie went 2-5 with an RBI, Gardy went 2-4 with 2 RBI, Grandy went 2-4 with an RBI, Alex went 2-5 with an RBI (still no #600) and Mark went 2-4 with 2 RBI. So this was a definitely a welcome sight after yesterday’s game. Let’s do this again.

Silver linings, right? That and CC didn’t really pitch that poorly, to be honest. He suffered more from some crappy defense behind him, to the tune of two errors than anything else. His final line was 7 IP, 9 H, 2 ER, 3 BB and 5 K. A little high on the hit/walk count but other than that……a respectable if not winning start had the offense bothered to show up. Not that we were exactly lighting the place on fire yesterday, but today was even worse. We got nothing until the 8th inning and even then it was courtesy of a groundout, not an actual hit. Derek was our offensive “star” tonight if you want to call it that, going 2-4. Just a putrid, putrid game all the way around. Hopefully the Tigers can come back and beat the Rays so we don’t lose any more ground.

BTW, I hope Alex had a nice birthday today, regardless of the final score. He is one of my favorite Yankees, after all. Have a slice of cake and some ice cream for me. Make it chocolate. :-D

If there’s anything the Yankees do well, it’s waiting until the last bloody minute to come away with the win. It’s like, if we can’t win it in the last two innings or extras, it’s not interesting enough for us. Of course, most of it can be chalked up to getting stymied by average pitching, as it seems we can hit the big-timers but not the unknowns. Jake Westbrook is not quite average….maybe above average, so our meager offensive output against him isn’t that appalling. Thank God for miracles, eh?

Speaking of miracles…..what the hell got into Javy? He started the season rather crappily, now he’s pitching like CC. He’s averaged 6.4 IP per start since May 12th, with a 0.96 WHIP, 7.2 K/9… 7-4, 3.16 ERA in that span. That’s pretty frickin’ phenomenal, if you want the truth of it. His final line tonight was 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K. A couple too many walks, but it’s not like Cleveland did much with them. Robertson and Logan pitched the 8th and Mo pitched the 9th….all blissfully drama-free. Just like it should be.

Now what wasn’t dramatic was our offense tonight. Three runs on four hits. Eww. We got a solo shot from Swish in the 4th and did bupkiss until the 8th, when Grandy hit a very well-timed 2-run HR to give us the lead. Aside from that, nobody else did much of anything. Nick got a hit, Grandy got two hits and the only other player to get a hit was Jorge. I’m hoping tomorrow’s game is just a tad bit more offensively-minded than this one was, what with CC on the mound.

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day today. My sister and I along with our family, spent the afternoon grilling and watching baseball, which is part of what you do on Memorial Day. Of course, let it be said that the whole point of today is to pay tribute to those who died in service to our country, so that we can enjoy a nice afternoon of grilling and baseball. Gratitude is one of the highest honors you can give another person, I believe. BTW…..what was up with those god-awful ugly hats the guys were wearing? I know it’s Memorial Day and we have to slap the American flag on damn near everything we can, but they’re ugly. Stop it.

Andy Petttite has been pitching like it’s 1996, which is fantastic for us and bad news for the rest of the AL. I don’t know what’s gotten into him lately (oh please let it not be pharmaceutical), but I’m damn glad for it. With the win this afternoon, he’s now 7-1 on the season, and has the best record on the team. Hurrah! His final line today was 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. Chan-Ho Park pitched the last two innings in relief, and gave up 1 ER on two hits and struck out three. I wasn’t too happy to see the Indians score a run in the 9th, but at least it was only one. Flashbacks of the 2nd game in this series were not needed.

Alex Rodriguez was the absolute star of the game today, no questions asked. 3-4, 6 RBI including a grand slam? With mustard? Hell yes. What’s hilarious is that before today, the last time a pitcher intentionally walked Mark to get to him and in the process loaded the bases, Alex hit a grand slam. Fast-forward to this afternoon and……you get the picture. I swear, some managers will never, ever learn. Robbie also had a great day at the plate, going 2-5 with 3 RBI. The offense definitely came back in a hurry for this series, I hope it continues.

Unlike yesterday where we had the lead and then coughed it up, only to end up losing the game…..today we were down early and the Indians coughed up the lead and lost the game. A little table-turning trick. I’d rather be down early and then end up winning than choke up a 6-run lead. Helps build character, and all.

AJ Burnett, aside from maybe two starts this year, has been downright filthy — this afternoon was no exception. 8 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB and 8K. That’s more than required of our starters each night, but who’s complaining? Mo came in for the 9th, threw 14 pitches and struck out two. Ho-hum. If only all our games pitching-wise went that smoothly. *sigh*

Early on this was looking like a replay of the Detroit series. Good pitching, crap offense. Then in the 7th, everyone woke up. Derek got a timely 2-run single that put us on the board and then Mark hit a 3-run HR to give us the lead. A crooked number an inning will do that for you. We added a couple more in the 8th to pad the lead a little and ended up with 7 runs on 12 hits. I like seeing that. We win another series and redeem ourselves if only slightly, from yesterday’s debacle. Ugh….it could have been a sweep. Back-to-back sweeps actually, since we should have won the last game of the Detroit series. Ah well…..you take what you can get. The Sox had to take a split with the Royals and the Rays lost again to the White Sox. Thank God.

Ah yes, The Curse of the Winnable Game™. Everyone’s favorite. When you at one point have a 10-4 lead, it’s embarrassing and downright stupid to lose said game. I mean……how in the HELL did that happen? Well, I know how it happened, the bullpen spit the bit. That’s after CC had a less-than-ace like performance but the offense was on point again.

Hot damn, we managed to score more than two runs! I guess this is what happens when you get a great pitching performance and you’re matched up against a kind-of crappy team. It seemed like it couldn’t have come at a better time, too.

We needed Phil come in and wash the bad taste of Javy’s start out of our mouths and he did just that. 7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K. Who’s gonna turn that down? We even got great relief pitching from Surgery Meat Tray and Chan-Ho Park! I know! They went a combined 2 IP and gave up 1 H and struck out 3. Amazing!

Even more amazing was that the damn bats woke up. While we won the Minnesota series, we didn’t exactly do it in convincing fashion. We basically won as a result of our pitching being fractionally less sucky than their pitching, not because we clubbed them to death with runs. Tonight was a different story, though. Eight runs on twelve hits should be enough every game to get you the the win, and tonight it was for us. The two big nights went to Robbie (3-4, 4 RBI) and Swish (2-4, 2 RBI). Derek had a nice night as well, going 2-4 and both Juan Miranda and Gardy went 1-3 with an RBI. If we can get this combined effort every game on out, we’ll be golden. Speaking of golden, both the Sox and Rays lost tonight, so we gained a game on them both. Sweet!

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